In the Seattle area, a region with an average obesity rate of about 20 percent, only about 4 percent of shoppers who filled their carts at Whole Foods Market stores were obese, compared with nearly 40 percent of shoppers at lower-priced Albertsons stores.

That’s likely because people willing to pay $6 for a pound of radicchio are more able to afford healthy diets than people stocking up on $1.88 packs of pizza rolls to feed their kids, the study’s lead author suggested.

“If people wanted a diet to be cheap, they went to one supermarket,” said Adam Drewnowski, a University of Washington epidemiology professor who studies obesity and social class. “If they wanted their diet to be healthy, they went to another supermarket and spent more."

The findings held true for the three highest-priced grocery stores in the Seattle region, including Whole Foods, where an average market basket of food cost between $370 and $420, and obesity rates went no higher than about 12 percent.

By contrast, at the area’s three lowest-priced stores, including Albertsons, the same basket of food cost between $225 and $280, and obesity rates went no lower than about 22 percent.

“Deep down, obesity is really an economic issue,” Drewnowski said.

His research team studied 2,001 shoppers in the Seattle area between December 2008 and March 2009, tracking their choice of supermarkets and comparing it with their education, income and obesity rates. They measured obesity by asking consumers to report their height and weight, then calculating body mass index. People with a BMI higher than 30 were identified as obese.

Drewnowski was quick to note that the study focused only on Seattle, which has an obesity rate much lower than the U.S. average of about 34 percent. He doesn’t claim that the same rates would bear out in other cities.

Wealthy shoppers usually thinner
But, he said, it’s likely that similar patterns might be found elsewhere: Wealthier people who shopped at higher-end stores would be thinner, while poorer people who shopped at cheaper stores would be fatter.

It’s not a matter of availability, Drewnowski said. All of the stores in his study stocked a wide range of nutritious food, including plenty of fruits and vegetables.

Instead, he contends it’s because healthy, low-calorie foods cost more money and take more effort to prepare than processed, high-calorie foods. In a separate study two years ago, Drewnowski estimated that a calorie-dense diet cost $3.52 a day compared with $36.32 a day for a low-calorie diet.

So, both Whole Foods and Albertson's offered a wide selection of nutritious foods. However, fat people overwhelmingly preferred cheaper stores. Therefore, fatness is a product of poverty since it costs $36.52 to eat "skinny".

There are some problems with this chain of reasoning. It does not cost over $30.00 a day to eat a fresh, nutritious diet. I'd be frankly shocked if it cost me more than $5 bucks (unless I eat out ).

Whole Foods, Sunflower, Trader Joe's, and related places are selling a lifestyle experience - not just groceries. People who aren't interested in that lifestyle won't pay 3 times as a much for a head of lettuce just for the ambiance.

The article plainly states that down-market store had plenty of fruits and vegetables available so access isn't an issue. The down-market store is much cheaper so price isn't an issue. Could it be preference? A sack of veggies from Whole Foods is more expensive than a sack of veggies from Albertson's but neither is more expensive than a sack of pizza rolls, ice cream, boxed cereal, and soda.

If I have $50 bucks to spend on groceries and I like soda, snack foods, and frozen meals, I'm not shopping at Whole Foods - that would be insane. So, the issue here is preference. Fat people prefer convenience foods, processed snacks, and similar stuff. The Whole Foods shopper probably buys mostly raw veggies/fruit and unprocessed meat/fish (I know I do).

There is a connection between obesity and poverty in the US. It's not just the price of healthy food, although that is part of it.

Some processed food is cheap. Working parents frequently opt for easy to cook, pre-packaged foods. Why spend an hour making mac and cheese from scratch when your kids want the Kraft kind, which only takes 10 minutes? Jeno's frozen pizzas are cheap, and kids seem to like them even though the crusts taste like cardboard. All kids want Chef Boyardee lunches.

I don't know any poor people who shop at Whole Foods. None of their stores are in poor neighborhoods around here, they are all in fairly wealthy parts of town, like Troy and Farmington Hills. We have terrible public transportation, and bus stops are hardly WF's consideration when choosing locations.

WalMart and Meijer build their stores on the bus routes. No national grocery chains have stores in the city limits of Detroit. But Detroit does have a great resource for poor people who want fresh produce-The Eastern Market, on Tuesdays and Saturdays, has an outdoor farmer's market, where local farmers bring in their produce and sell it at stalls. The smarter people I work with (usually foster parents) buy all their produce there, and buy their meat at the stores in the area, because the stores are outlets for the nearby slaughterhouses.

Gingersnap

05-25-2010, 04:31 PM

There is a connection between obesity and poverty in the US. It's not just the price of healthy food, although that is part of it.

Some processed food is cheap. Working parents frequently opt for easy to cook, pre-packaged foods. Why spend an hour making mac and cheese from scratch when your kids want the Kraft kind, which only takes 10 minutes? Jeno's frozen pizzas are cheap, and kids seem to like them even though the crusts taste like cardboard. All kids want Chef Boyardee lunches.

I don't know any poor people who shop at Whole Foods. None of their stores are in poor neighborhoods around here, they are all in fairly wealthy parts of town, like Troy and Farmington Hills. We have terrible public transportation, and bus stops are hardly WF's consideration when choosing locations.

WalMart and Meijer build their stores on the bus routes. No national grocery chains have stores in the city limits of Detroit. But Detroit does have a great resource for poor people who want fresh produce-The Eastern Market, on Tuesdays and Saturdays, has an outdoor farmer's market, where local farmers bring in their produce and sell it at stalls. The smarter people I work with (usually foster parents) buy all their produce there, and buy their meat at the stores in the area, because the stores are outlets for the nearby slaughterhouses.

It doesn't take an hour to make mac and cheese from scratch (or it certainly doesn't have to). Kids develop a taste for what's in front of them day-to-day. In the winter, soups and stews are inexpensive and packed with nutrition and nothing is easier in a slow cooker. In the summer, salads are cheapest thing anybody could eat.

The truth is that a lot of people prefer canned pasta or frozen pizza or chicken "nuggets". They are so used to the taste of industrialized food that they like it better. A chickpea salad and a piece of rosemary baked chicken with some steamed broccoli just does not taste good to a lot of people. At least, it doesn't taste as good as Rancho Fiesta Fire chips and half of a Baron's Cheese Stuffed Double Crust Barbeque pizza.

People who like to cook and have some notions about food quality aren't all making Food Network quality recipes every day. A lot of us eat fairly plainly most of the time: baked fish, steamed veggies, simple soups, etc. You just don't overeat steamed broccoli but it's easy to overeat Triple Fudge ice cream (which is why I don't keep it around). ;)

PoliCon

05-25-2010, 06:05 PM

There is a connection between obesity and poverty in the US. It's not just the price of healthy food, although that is part of it.

Some processed food is cheap. Working parents frequently opt for easy to cook, pre-packaged foods. Why spend an hour making mac and cheese from scratch when your kids want the Kraft kind, which only takes 10 minutes? Jeno's frozen pizzas are cheap, and kids seem to like them even though the crusts taste like cardboard. All kids want Chef Boyardee lunches.

I don't know any poor people who shop at Whole Foods. None of their stores are in poor neighborhoods around here, they are all in fairly wealthy parts of town, like Troy and Farmington Hills. We have terrible public transportation, and bus stops are hardly WF's consideration when choosing locations.

WalMart and Meijer build their stores on the bus routes. No national grocery chains have stores in the city limits of Detroit. But Detroit does have a great resource for poor people who want fresh produce-The Eastern Market, on Tuesdays and Saturdays, has an outdoor farmer's market, where local farmers bring in their produce and sell it at stalls. The smarter people I work with (usually foster parents) buy all their produce there, and buy their meat at the stores in the area, because the stores are outlets for the nearby slaughterhouses.

The only whole foods in the Pittsburgh area is in the East Liberty neighborhood which is the poor part of town.

fettpett

05-25-2010, 06:23 PM

I completely disagree...you can eat healthy just fine. the problem is that poor people don't know and don't want to know how to cook and eat shity food like white bread and empty calories. they eat LOTS of Starch and lots of meat, without eating any or very little actual vegetables

Gingersnap

05-25-2010, 08:49 PM

Veggies are a hard sell. I say that as somebody who grows organic veggies and who has been known to buy them out of season. The plain truth is that most "healthy" foods are simply undesirable when compared to the taste, time, and effort of processed foods.

There - I spoke truth to power. Food preferences are complex. Various foods have importance that goes way beyond price, access, and health. A lot of foods that "poor" people eat today were the festival foods of cultures and generations 50 years ago. Does anybody seriously think that Mexican peasants ate guacamole and beef burritos? That farmers routinely ate cheese casseroles and fried chicken? That Asian immigrants normally served fried rice and dumplings every day?

Plain foods (which is the norm in every peasant culture) are not foods that people want to overeat. Boiled cabbage, beans and corn, polenta, grain porridges, dark breads, dried fish, and plain rice are not the stuff of eating-dreams. You simply can't overeat things like that day-in and day-out. You eat enough to satisfy and you're done. You pig out on special occasions. Today - every day is a special occasion.

Rockntractor

05-25-2010, 09:20 PM

I like hole foods, especially donuts!

patriot45

05-25-2010, 09:28 PM

I like hole foods, especially donuts!

Doughnut holes! Ummmm!

Lager

05-25-2010, 09:56 PM

I think it's a matter of convenience as well. You could take one of the cheaper cuts of meat, and if you season it right and cook it the right way long enough, it will taste better than filet mignon. It probably takes about the same effort to get fit, once you're overweight, as it does to shop and cook healthy. It's a lifestyle change. Folks whose personality won't allow them to motivate themselves to do one, probably won't do the other.

marv

05-25-2010, 10:40 PM

I love it when "smart" people play the statistics game.

Will someone please convince me that the one medical condition that is always 100% fatal is NOT birth! Maybe it sounds silly, but it's true, and statistics back it up.

Oh well, on to more sensible things.........

RobJohnson

05-25-2010, 11:29 PM

It's simple.

Lazy people do not eat well, or feed the family well.

They are even too lazy to eat out at some place decent, they might have to change out of the sleep pants and slippers....

They eat what is easy, and driving up to a window to gaze over the dollar menu is easy...very easy.

If it was not for the school lunch & breakfast programs, I doubt many of the kids in these families would ever see any thing that was not from a fast food grill or deep fryer.

Gingersnap

05-25-2010, 11:36 PM

If it was not for the school lunch & breakfast programs, I doubt many of the kids in these families would ever see any thing that was not from a fast food grill or deep fryer.

You could be right. I've met a couple of 5 - 7 year olds who literally couldn't use cutlery aside from spoons.
They simply had never had to use a fork or knife at home or at school.

linda22003

05-26-2010, 05:51 AM

You could be right. I've met a couple of 5 - 7 year olds who literally couldn't use cutlery aside from spoons.
They simply had never had to use a fork or knife at home or at school.

I think we all know adults who can't use cutlery. My brain has to force my mouth closed when it drops open, watching a grown man hold his fork in his whole fist when he cuts his meat.

PoliCon

05-26-2010, 06:26 AM

I think we all know adults who can't use cutlery. My brain has to force my mouth closed when it drops open, watching a grown man hold his fork in his whole fist when he cuts his meat.

very few people know the proper way to hold a fork these days.:(

RobJohnson

05-26-2010, 03:01 PM

You could be right. I've met a couple of 5 - 7 year olds who literally couldn't use cutlery aside from spoons.
They simply had never had to use a fork or knife at home or at school.

I've talked to some of these parents that don't have food in the house for the little ones.

The parents claim "I hate shopping." So the poor kid gets to enjoy top ramen 7 nights a week...

Shopping for food is part of raising children....I hate lazy people.

fettpett

05-26-2010, 05:01 PM

I've talked to some of these parents that don't have food in the house for the little ones.

The parents claim "I hate shopping." So the poor kid gets to enjoy top ramen 7 nights a week...

Shopping for food is part of raising children....I hate lazy people.

My son would substance himself on Ramen if we let him...and it's not from us only feeding him that...he's 6 and picky...

I don't like shopping, but my wife loves it...I think it's more people to lazy to try and get their kids to eat properly then expect the school systems to do it for them

PoliCon

05-26-2010, 05:47 PM

Pat and rock will make comments about me being a girl again - but I happen to love shopping. :) I like to haggle when I do it too. :D Nothing like getting the best deal possible!

RobJohnson

05-26-2010, 09:17 PM

Pat and rock will make comments about me being a girl again - but I happen to love shopping. :) I like to haggle when I do it too. :D Nothing like getting the best deal possible!

I also like to shop and I love a good deal. I often stack coupons with discounts, etc....

Rockntractor

05-26-2010, 09:33 PM

Pat and rock will make comments about me being a girl again - but I happen to love shopping. :) I like to haggle when I do it too. :D Nothing like getting the best deal possible!
You are such a little girly mon!:D

patriot45

05-26-2010, 09:38 PM

Pat and rock will make comments about me being a girl again - but I happen to love shopping. :) I like to haggle when I do it too. :D Nothing like getting the best deal possible!

You shopping ain't why we say that sweetie! :D
How do you reach the top shelves where the good stuff is!?!

Rockntractor

05-26-2010, 09:43 PM

You shopping ain't why we say that sweetie! :D
How do you reach the top shelves where the good stuff is!?!

Haven't you ever felt a tug on your pant leg and had a little gay midget say hey mithter could you get that down for me?:confused:

Bubba Dawg

05-26-2010, 09:46 PM

Hey, I thought I'd posted something about batter dipped deep fried cheese in this thread and now I can't find it.

:eek::confused:

patriot45

05-26-2010, 09:49 PM

Hey, I thought I'd posted something about batter dipped deep fried cheese in this thread and now I can't find it.